Streaming Personality Spends Thirty-Seven Hours Attempting to Conquer <em>Tears of the Kingdom</em> Using a One Stick

One could think that after two years since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom debuted, enthusiasts would have run out of novel self-imposed challenges that apply special rules on a gameplay session. However, while many gamers have tried to complete the game with only a wooden stick, content creator PointCrow stands out as the player who aimed to clear the adventure with a one stick—specifically, the exact same one from start to finish.

The streamer is renowned for such difficult playthroughs, like the instance he played the title using only explosives or the effort where he tried to defeat the story with no stamina. A one-branch playthrough, however, seems impossible at face value. There's the game's introduction, which forces the hero to wield the Master Sword. Additionally, there's the whole durability mechanic, which is especially important when working with the most fragile tool in the entire world. But if the branch breaks, that's the end. Game over.

The Method Behind the Madness

How did he do it? The simple explanation is exploits. The full answer, I kid you not, is parallel universes. It turns out, you can tweak the game's saving mechanism to have separate game sessions that impact one another. So the creator creates a “setup” file where he advances normally, and the actual save, where he's restricted. The setup file has him going through the prologue and first starting area, and this character acquires full endurance and hearts. From this point, he starts a cinematic and halts partway through to tell the software to load an automatic save from the stick file. The system gets mixed up and creates a new save file that combines the states of the original two.

That creates fresh problems, though. The fused file has a protagonist that never obtain the ability to enter shrines. Luckily, this is an issue that the file exploit addresses easily, but pulling it off means relying on an buggy build of the game that refuses to load certain locations. Like other obstacles, he has a clever solution for it: He starts the game on its early version 1.0, and then updates the game partway through to ensure it starts functioning correctly.

Bypassing Weapon Wear and Additional Hurdles

Interestingly, the prologue form of the hero is coded so that he is unable to damage any tools he wields, presumably to avoid a situation where the player gets stuck at the start of the adventure. But that's additionally how the streamer bypasses the wear issue, as the Link he pulls across dimensions is the one from the beginning of the story. It's a clever technique, but not a method that eradicates all potential friction. The branch is nonetheless a weak item that renders encounters tedious. But at that point, it's entirely a question of determination and dedication. It also aids that there's a copying exploit that gives him an abundant number of consumables to improve his strength, or stock up on healing spirits. He also employs a bug that enables him to phase through the environment. Some would find these methods grounds to question the validity of the run, but in my mind, he's a inventive player who is willing to do anything necessary to engage his viewer. He further implements a penalty of kinds stating that, for each spirit he uses, he'll remove a fan from his live stream, establishing an motivation to avoid overly rely on them.

Boss Fights and the Last Showdown

The streamer succeeds to defeat many of the game's bosses, but the battles look painful. The video edit of his quest doesn't make the audience sit through the whole fights, which is a blessing when some of them take several hours. A particular enemy encounter, a powerful foe, requires an astonishing twenty-three straight. The final villain battle, which depletes Link's hearts as it progresses, is a notable nail-biter. The indestructible branch is still only a stick. He can't always clone objects midway the fight.

So, is it possible? In a matter of speaking, he does overcome the beast form of the antagonist. But the game forces the user to wield the legendary weapon as the final strike, so strictly speaking, it's not quite completely a stick-only run. But where's the challenge in that?

When everything is said and done, PointCrow banned over a thousand users in his Twitch chat. Rest in peace.